Dukes of Cornwall

This piece will mostly be an educative piece to those who know nothing about the Dukes of Cornwall. For a start it would be good to get a current update of who he is today. He is Charles, the Prince of Wales. This is because he is the eldest son of the current British Monarch. You will get to understand all this as we go along.

In the Kingdom of England, there is a principle that says that the Duke of Cornwall is the eldest son of the Sovereign, always. This rule can only be broken in a situation where if this eldest son dies. In this scenario the eldest son of this deceased son does not inherit the Dukedom. Whereas should the Sovereign die without a heir, then his next brother becomes the Duke of the Cornwall. The same principle states that neither female nor a grandson may become a Duke of Cornwall. It is also important to know that one can be a Prince of Wales without necessarily being the Duke of Cornwall.

This Duke of Cornwall is entitled to feudal dues. Charles has already received his which included white gloves, a pair of greyhounds, cumin and pepper, a bow, gilt spurs, wood for the fires, a salmon spear and a hundred specially struck silver shillings. It was at this time when he was receiving his feudal dues that he was officially pronounced the Duke of Cornwall.

The Duke of Cornwall is very powerful even within the constitutional level. This accords him several rights. He appoints the High Sheriff of Cornwall. Even those who die without naming their heirs in the entire Cornwall have their estates under the rights of the Duke of Cornwall. All sturgeons caught in Cornwall are given to him. In fact he even has a right of wreck on all ships wrecked on the shores in Cornwall!

There is something called the Duchy of Cornwall. It simply is the land owned by the Duke of Cornwall. This is usually tax exempted although it exceptionally good to know that Charles still pays income tax for his Duchy. This is out of his voluntary desire.

Today the Duke of Cornwall has a Council of the Prince which he chairs. The council comprises of The Lord Warden of the Stannaries, the Receiver General, his Attorney General and a Secretary.

So, at this point you must have learn t a lot of new things. You have known who the Duke of Cornwall is and what is under his power. Maybe you are surprised, maybe not. That is just the fact. There is a lot more information about Charles. Maybe information about his life you could get on the web. If you are interested in his personal life, maybe you could search for that elsewhere. There have also been books written about him. You could reach out for them if this article has aroused some interest in you. You will definitely realise, there are a lot more.